“The only real task any of us needs to worry about is this: Find your own way of helping people. Then go out and do it.”

Time to Get Inspired!

Okay team! In our Ask the Reader post, I told you this week was all about you, and it would not be complete without sharing a few inspiring stories from our community.

So here’s our January Reader Spotlight. It’s short and sweet because I know how busy you all are in making your big goals reality – hearing your 2013 plans earlier this week blew my mind!

Our biggest goal at Live Your Legend is to inspire you to believe in possibility, and the best way I know is to show “ordinary” people doing the things most of the world only dreams of.

That is the purpose of our monthly Living Legends Reader Spotlights. Oh, and to give you the chance to help support the dreams of our community.

Realize that the stories you read about on this site are not as out of reach as some like to believe.

I guarantee that if two years ago you would have told any of these people they’d be living the stories they describe in our spotlights, they’d say, “Not a chance.” Fast forward to today and it’s become a certainty. A part of a world they only used to dream of – a part of THEIR world.

Dreams happened because they took three simple steps:

They discovered the work they couldn’t not do.

They surrounded themselves with the people who wouldn’t let them fail.

3 Mini Case Studies of Live Your Legend Members Changing the World…

To celebrate the 30th birthday I almost didn’t have, I am hosting 30 donation-based bootcamps in 30 different cities throughout the US and Canada to benefit To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA), a charity that helps people who struggle with depression, substance abuse, self-injury and suicide. The tour will run March through May.

I once lost hope for my life when I was a teenager. I didn’t think it was okay to reach out for help. I thought it would make me look weak. Thankfully, I got stronger – inside and out – by discovering fitness and working on my mindset. TWLOHA speaks directly to the teenager that I was: lost, hopeless and afraid.

These bootcamps will help raise awareness as well as funds for all those people who struggle. I want to show them that hope is real, that they too can overcome this.

I am driven to show those in the darkness that there is light, and that they can indeed find it again. Saving people from that pain motivates me to spread the awareness faster.

How you can help:

To host my 30×30 Project, I have to raise $18,000 to cover travel, modest living, and lodging expenses. I’m running an IndieGoGo campaign right now to raise money (kind of like Kickstarter for charities). It would be so helpful if you could give just a few dollars to help me make my legend a reality. There are some excellent perks for donation, so please check it out!

Fun fact: I was president of the Anime club in high school. Serial Experiments Lain is my favorite series. Geeks unite!

Check out this free bonus 10-Minute Entrepreneur Workout video Amy created just for Live Your Legend!

Note from Scott: Amy has been a part of the Live Your Legend community since the beginning, and in the past two years she has become an inspring friend as well. Her workouts will kick your ass, and as a special gift to our community here, Amy has filmed The 10-Minute Entrepreneur’s Workout, created exclusively for all of us. Ten simple bodyweight exercises that anyone, no matter your fitness level, can do to stay in shape ten minutes a day. Fitness changes everything. No more excuses. 😉

2. Creating a Movement Around Young Adults Seeing & Exploring the World to Become More Dynamic & World-Changing Multinational Citizens

Living Legend: Jeff Bochsler

Location: Santa Barbara, California

Why and How Jeff is Making an Impact:

Having more multinational citizens in the world thinking about how to solve the world’s big problems from a global perspective has the potential of grand impacts near and far.

I created Be Multinational to encourage people of all ages, most specifically those in their mid-20s to early 30s, to venture abroad for an extended period of time (4+ months & ideally 6 or more). We all face times in our life that are transition points. The Quarterlife Crisis is often one of them. Use this time to become a multinational citizen. Live abroad, work in another country, and get to know other cultures on a deeper level, rather than just passing through and taking pictures.

You will be better for it. Your future career efforts or entrepreneurial pursuits will be enhanced. You will return with a perspective that sees opportunity and inter-connectivity. And the world will be better for it.

I spent one year abroad in my early twenties living with a family and studying Spanish in Spain. More recently I took a sabbatical, said good bye to my day job for four months, and traveled South America studying the economies, languages, culture, hanging with monkeys, getting my scuba license, and carrying out six weeks of microfinance work for Kiva.org in Cusco, Peru.

I’m no different than anyone else. I long to be a man of the world. So I didn’t let fear or barriers established by others hold me back from my dream of venturing abroad. I want the rest of the world to experience that same life-changing reality.

Fun fact: Given scientific advancements and a few TED Talks, I kind of seriously believe there’s potential to live until we’re 175 years old. I couldn’t be more excited about the possibility and the opportunities for which this allows.

—-

3. Fighting Modern Day Slavery & Human Trafficking by Writing a Book with 60 Acclaimed Authors & Donating 100% to the Not For Sale Campaign

Living Legend: Erin Giles

Location: Aiken, South Carolina

Why and How Erin is Making an Impact:

I believe in freedom. I created the event End Sex Trafficking Day as my way of educating and raising money for the nearly 30 million people who are currently enslaved in 161 countries.

In January of 2012 I began inviting 60 writers, entrepreneurs and creatives to write one essay on either Love, Knowledge or Freedom. I managed to get amazing people to say yes such as: Seth Godin, Carol Roth, Danielle LaPorte, Jonathan Fields and your very own Scott Dinsmore!

I then set out to raise $10,000 on Kickstarter so the book could be published. Kickstarter denied my project. I so badly wanted to cop out and think that was a stopping point until a mentor suggested I raise the 10k on the EST Day website instead…crazy enough, with one dynamic video, it worked!

The book is now on Amazon and launched on October 26, 2012, End Sex Trafficking Day, with 100% of all authors’ proceeds going to the Not For Sale Campaign, a non profit that fights human trafficking. Together we can set these people free.

How you can help:

We need all the help we can get! You can do two things: share the website + buy the book!

Fun fact: I slept with a blankey my grandma made me until I was 23, LOVE spontaneous short hair cuts, glitter, and having a teal streak in my hair.

*****

It All Comes Back to Helping People

By now, after hearing about dozens of our living legends, I hope you’re starting to notice the common thread.

Every one of the crazy projects and people we profile share the same goal.

They want to genuinely help people.

In its simplest form, that’s all we do around here. That’s what it all comes back to.

Help people and add value to the world in a way only you can. How you choose to do that is up to you.

These people, you all, inspire me. All of your projects are close to my heart, and simply hearing about them makes me want to up my game.

I hope it causes you to do the same.

Here’s to doing something that matters!

-Scott

P.S. Please pick one of the above three projects to spend at least 2-5 minutes learning more about their mission, and find some way, big or small, to support the impact they intend to have on the world. Remember, no one does anything on their own.

For the comments: If you have an idea or way you can uniquely help one of them, please tell us in the comments (email readers click here). Thanks for the support!

Thank you so much Scott, honored to be included with such dynamic world changers! And thank you for being an inspiration for us all on how to leave a legacy + live a life you love!! Off to connect with them!

What you did with End Sex Trafficking Day and your book blew my mind. So proud to be a part of that! And I know my good friend Allie who’s the Senior Director at Not for Sale is going to really appreciate it!

Amy, Erin and Scott – I’m absolutely blown away by what each of you are doing, how big you are dreaming, and the causes upon which you stand. You encourage me. I’ll reach out to each of you individually, but in the meantime, know that there is no better way to end a Friday than to read and watch your content. I’m fired up going into the weekend to take that next step forward, promote your efforts, and continue fueling the fire for big changes in the near future.

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